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Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

[…] I was away. I missed jumping in on the mistake fare to Israel. I missed getting in on Milepoint’s new premium option. I have yet to buy Sears gift cards for 10X. And, I haven’t even checked local rental […]

Comments

One question though: if I currently have Executive status through early 2013, but don’t anticipate re-qualifying, will Milepoint Premium membership extend my status to early 2014, or a year from today, or not extend it at all?

Thanks Gary. I just subscribed to Premium Membership. However I am having some trouble trying to update my account’s email address so sent a message through the contact us page. I’m looking forward to receiving my premium benefits and wish you continued success.

Quick question: This may be idle paranoia, but is there any worry that airlines and credit-card companies will abuse the information they receive about folks in the miles and points community? The concern (if there really is any) isn’t limited to milepoint at all–it would apply equally to blog readership, source links for credit-card applications, almost anything.

Here (again, using milepoint only as an example), what I’m getting at is that an airline or credit-card company that receives a list of milepoint premium members could put those customers on a watch list. Frequent-flyer desks could cross-check a customer’s account and say, “milepoint member–he’s probably trying to stretch the routing rules on this award ticket,” and refuse to ticket an award. A credit-card company could say, “milepoint member–he’s probably churning cards just for signup bonuses,” and refuse to approve an application (or shut down existing accounts).

Of course, I’d hope that, by and large, frequent-flyer programs and credit-card companies appreciate engaged customers, and so there wouldn’t be any adverse consequences. The cynical side of me, though, worries about what folks do with all the extra information available. Thoughts?

oops, sorry for so many post. How do I get a hold of the person for the Upgraded Milepoint membership. I have Hyatt Platinum and it should expire soon. My account states tier expiration on July 31, 2012. Even though I have Hyatt Platinum right now, I rather have the Platinum than the points.

@Brad
Highly unlikely since we never turn over any identifying data and in the case of the MilePoint Premium Membership never even have any contact with any credit card company. As for the airline tracking the miles, the Premium Membership program is handled like any other outside bonus offer and surely there are many other that give away 2K in bonus miles. Let’s say that MilePoint buys one million bonus miles to give away, given that the airline likely sells in excess of 450 billion miles in a similar way, highly unlikely they have the time, talent and interest in trying to re-program their database to watch 2K in miles. My guess is that they would be bored rather quickly because on MilePoint the average member is not a gamer. Anyway, astute observation but I personally don’t see that happening. Heck, they are too busy monitoring tweets on Twitter.

@Mark
Agree w/ more payment options. Only reason for using PayPal at this time is they are the only payment bridge built into the technology platform that MilePoint uses and since we wanted to use automated user groups to “award” status via the Award Store, etc. it was our only choice. We hope and hear that future versions of the MilePoint technology platform allow standard shopping cart bridges which we’ll immediately adopt. Thanks for question and suggestion.

@UAPhil
Yes, we worked with partners such as InsideFlyer to allow and offer the benefit to extend current subscriptions so you have great flexibility. Both InsideFlyer and National Car Rental offers add a full calendar to any subscription or membership year you might currently have.

@chemist661
Let us all hope that your battle w/ stage four cancer is one you can continue to win. With the MilePoint Premium Membership, you’re likely to be pleased that its intent was to stimulate new funding and support for Milepoint’s charities-of-choice and two of them are Komen and LIVESTRONG which are both very active in finding ways to beat cancer. A full 10% of gross (not net) proceeds from the program will go into MilePoint and it’s members support to help charities such as this with hope and effort to beat cancer. We support your own effort with this.

@sil – I prefer National Executive to Hertz Gold primarily for ‘pick your own car.’

As a leisure traveler (and hence often needing to drive larger parties) and with my most frequent rental spots being DCA and LAS (which have good Executive Selections) I greatly value the ability to pay a midsize price, walk out and look over the selection, and then grab something interesting. Plus I’m a car guy and just love the ability to get extended test drives on a different model each rental.

For those without the Chase Hyatt CC, this is a great way to boost the CC bonus. Hyatt Plat members who sign up for the card get 2 suite upgrades in addition to the 2 free nights. So signing up for MilePoint premium will give you Hyatt Platinum, which will up your bonus with the CC. Membership status is determined based on status at time of application, not when you want to use the upgrades.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.

Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

View from the Wing is a project of Miles and Points Consulting, LLC. This site is for entertainment purpose only. The owner of this site is not an investment advisor, financial planner, nor legal or tax professional and articles here are of an opinion and general nature and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances.

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